We discovered Boo at the Zoo by accident one year, when our neighborhood in DC suddenly filled up with costumed families headed for the National Zoo, and the kid wanted to go too, and couldn't, because her derelict parents hadn't bought tickets.
So we've paid attention since, and have gone every year, even though it's kind of ridiculous to go to a zoo when the animals are all put away, and to hike in a mob from sponsored snack tent to sponsored snack tent.
Well, this year, Boo at the Zoo kind of blew; the economy must have taken its toll. Because except for the quarter-sized temporary tattoo from Comcast [!] and a Dancing Animated Penguins 2 poster [...]--both of which I chucked after bedtime, btw--the only notable swag was a sippy cup from an outfit called USAKids.
Which, what? I mean, who doesn't love Kids and USA? But also, who needs another sippy cup?
So I look it up, and USA Kids is a brand. Of Made In USA sippy cups. For people who care deeply that their kids' sippy cup is Made in the USA, dammit, not somewheres over in China.
And USA Kids turns out to be the retail brand name for Capitol Cups, Which is the consumer/promotional/event cup division of CV Holdings, which also has divisions--Capitol Plastic Products and CPS Technologies, which provide injection-molded container and vial solutions to the medical, pharmaceutical, and dairy industries in the US and Europe.
So don't despair, America still has at least one thriving factory, with 90 injection-molding machines, in Alabama, owned by some guy in New York, which can churn out plastic cups that compete with whatever China can dish out!
They are available exclusively at WalMart.
USA Kids Cups [usakidscups.com]
That Wal-Mart sells something actually made in America just makes me want to vomit with pride.
+1
Caught Boo at the Zoo in the Bronx last year. It was free for kids in costume in October and I don't recall needing tickets in advance. We managed to avoid all the promotional (Dora) stuff and the kids were scared of the (haunted) House of Darkness anyway so it was pretty much just an ordinary day at the zoo. I believe we brought our own (China sourced) sippy cups.